Registered sex offender charged again

By DAILY NEWS STAFF

Published: Monday, September 17, 2012 at 02:34 PM.

Springle was originally convicted of engaging in a lewd and lascivious act of indecent exposure in front of a child in 1988 and again in 2004 in the state of Florida. He was transferred to the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry in 2007 for the Florica conviction.

Springle is considered a recidivist in North Carolina and must remain on the registry for life.

A Carteret County man with a history of indecent exposure faces an additional charge following a weekend incident outside his Morehead City home, authorities said.

Robert Hughes Springle, 59, of 182 Dorcus Dr., was arrested Sunday by deputies with the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office after a mother and daughter reported that he had exposed himself to them.

The females, ages 23 and 44, called 911 while they observed Springle standing in his yard wearing an opened robe and masturbating in front of them, the news release said.

He was charged with indecent exposure and placed in the Carteret County Jail under a $15,000 bond.

With the latest offense, Springle, a registered sex offender, now has two pending charges in court in Carteret County.

He has an Oct. 26 court appearance on a Nov. 2011 arrest on two counts of indecent exposure. He was arrested at that time after allegedly exposing himself and masturbating in front of two women and a child while standing in front of the window of his previous home in the Newport area.

Springle was originally convicted of engaging in a lewd and lascivious act of indecent exposure in front of a child in 1988 and again in 2004 in the state of Florida. He was transferred to the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry in 2007 for the Florica conviction.

Springle is considered a recidivist in North Carolina and must remain on the registry for life.